Great War Artifacts: Photographs....Remembering

Much as my grandfather's photos seem to have a self assured bravado about them the war was close and real, and he saw his share of deaths. Reginald Parrott, or "Polly" as he was known, was killed when a German shell caved in the parapet during a counter attack. Here's Polly behind my grandfather in November 1915, and here is his grave four months later.

In 1922 my grandfather returned to the grave at the Kemmel Chateau Cemetery.

My son stands by the grave in 2008.

In 1922 my grandfather was returning to Smyrna with his father and his cousin Louise. He had finished his degree in engineering at Queen's University after the war and was going to the family home in Asia Minor where his father ran an international college.

They took a ship to England and then did a detour to visit my grandfather's battle sites. My great grandfather gave a book to his son inscribed as a reminder of their good trip together.

Looking at the photos one sees something of that gulf between those who fought and those who did not. Great grandfather looks on with an academic interest, Louise, as was her spirit, seems to ham it up. My grandfather stands by land marks which to him represent critical moments in the Battle of Sanctuary Wood. 

The culvert is repaired now but what torment of shells might have ripped it apart and shattered the tree? Was this a place of refuge as PPCLI held off the German advance? I don't know.

Louise is lucky she didn't blow them all to bits.

And in these next photos displaying the aftermath of destruction what would be the different thoughts in the minds of these three visitors?

The Lille gate is pitted but quiet. The Cloth Hall in Ypres is in ruins but no shells will fall. And now the barbed wire is being stacked in mountains, no longer laid out to snag cloth and flesh.

The Michelin guide book provides a driving tour for the curious, but there is no tour through the minds of those who were there. 

This scene looks like it's of a fresh planting in no-man's-land in 1922. Compare this to the photo my grandfather took of the view across to Fritz's line just a few years before in 1916. And on just such a day as this the German shell blew apart the parapet and "Polly" Parrott died.

My grandfather went on to Smyrna where he first met my grandmother. They survived the destruction and burning of the city by the Turks and ended up in Canada. Her letters are a whole other story, as is the tale of how my great grandfather was spared from a firing squad by the skin of his teeth. Louise married a White Russian emigre/refugee and ended up in the States.

To end here is a photo of my grand parents, backs to the camera, in the market place in Ypres in 1965. I'll make a visit for them all in the next couple of years, and I'll be sure Parrot is not forgotten.

As a last note here's my grandfather again, in the British army in Salonica, 1917, next to a photo of my son in a school movie project in 2012.

They were born 100 years apart.

Great War Artifacts: Photographs

My grandfather had a camera in the trenches which he wasn't supposed to have. Family lore has it that it saved his life when it stopped a bullet. Be that as it may he took a lot a photos. Here's a selection, though the first is the studio portrait I've shown before.

I've always been haunted by the youth of these men in these photos. My grandfather is certainly not the old man I remember.

There's an air of bravado in so many of the photos, and the captions make light of the reality.

Some how this last photo cuts through the cocky assurance of the others. It seems to be a double exposure and I wonder if someone picked up the camera and snapped my grandfather unprepared. He seems vulnerable tucked into the tight space in the ground surrounded by gear.

Great War Artifacts: Officers

My grandfather was moved to the British army in late 1916. He left Flanders and served in Salonica.

It must have been more agreeable in many ways and may have saved his life.

Here he is as a new officer.

I have his Sam Browne belt with a sword frog I bought to finish it off.

I also have his spurs.

The leggings, below, strike me as being a garment that could make a fashion comeback.

My other two officer artifacts are my grandfather's binoculars and his mess tin which should have a canvas case and would hang on a leather strap behind a saddle.

The photos in his album speak of happy times.

Miscellaneous Artifacts from the Great War

After all the easily categorized artifacts of the past postings I have to clump whatever is left as miscellaneous. This collection ends up being all the things I never planned to get.

The most recent is a surprising gem given to me as a thank you present. It is a simple sleeve to hold a box of matches and bears a portrait of Kitchener, K of K, as it stays on the back. It is a commemorative memento after his death.

Another box artifact is the Princess Mary Christmas tin from 1914. I was at a military ball in Ottawa in June 2014 (part of a Great War contingent) and the official military guests were presented with "replica" boxes containing chocolates. A card from Princess Anne came with it marking the centenary. The lid plate soon fell off and I show it here with the original.

It's a good box to keep all my small artifacts safe.

Next I have some "domestic" items, the first is a piece of trench art. This is a paper cutter made from a bullet. This is followed by what I gather was a popular can opener, appropriately in the form of a beef cattle. It doesn't work very well. And lastly in this group is a napkin ring from a German Zepplin, at least according to my grandmother's hand written comment on a box. At first I thought it was formed from a piece of aluminum structure and filed by my grandfather. It's the kind of thing he would have done. But the complexity of raised detailing makes me think it was fabricated to be a napkin ring. Did my grandfather pick it out of the wreckage? Was it made of aluminum to keep the weight down? What a wonderfully civilized artifact it is.

From these benign items we go to artifacts of war, all particular to the Great War. What could be more evocative than a short length or wire from the Somme battle field shown here beside  a corroded folding wire cutter, itself probably a souvenir rescued from the fields of Flanders after several years in the soil had pitted the surface.

Well, if anything could be more evocative it would have to be this gas rattle. Had I not bought this at the local antique market it would have met its death at a university football game that day. It is crude but effective. When it is swung about the racket is piercing and chilling. Again, like the sound of a bayonet ringing, this is a true sound of the trench, recorded in wood and metal to be replayed as fresh as it sounded 100 years ago.

My last artifacts of this post are the ephemeral. These are the things which should have perished over the past 100 years but didn't.

The first is a pristine pre-censored "I'm still alive" postcard.

Next is a YMCA postcard with details of a machine gun emplacement handover. This kind of card must have been written up in the millions. How many still survive?

My brother bought me this 1915 Ordnance survey map...made to last with a linen backing. It shows the area of Charleroi, Belgium, south of Brussels.

Last note:

Did anyone see the web entry about the Princess Mary Christmas boxes found in an un-opened cardboard crate? There were over eighty of them, contents still intact. It seems they had not been delivered. They were shiny and looked brand new. They are one hundred years old. So, is it okay to polish an artifact and bring it back to its youth? My Princess Mary box has had a makeover and she looks great!